12.26.2010

dear mr mackay and mr cherry: war is not a game. it does not save lives.

The Ottawa Citzen reports that it was a laff riot in Kandahar on Christmas, as Don Cherry and Minister of Defence Peter MacKay yucked it up, war-school style. Cherry was allowed to launch a live artillery shell, shouting, "Taliban, here I come," as MacKay quipped, "Don, this is a different type of 'He shoots, he scores'."

Revolting, especially "you're saving lives." By slaughtering people, apparently. Reminds me of the people who say that Wikileaks' releasing more evidence that the US military has been murdering vast numbers of people in Iraq and Afghanistan somehow "endangers lives."

I have personally fired a good several dozen artillery shells, and participated in the firing of many dozens more. I once estimated that the number of shells fired either by me personally, or under commands that I relayed (as the radio operator), was in the several hundreds.

What a lot of non-military people often don't see is that, as a soldier, the most important things on your mind are doing your job, doing your job well, and acting like a goddamn professional while you do it. You have a lot of responsibility as the guy pulling the lanyard that fires the gun, and if you don't take that very, very seriously, you're going to get someone -- our own troops, maybe, or quite possibly your own personal friends -- killed.

I feel no shame at serving with the Canadian armed forces. But I feel a great deal of shame when the institution in which I served, and the very job I once did myself, is reduced from that sense of responsibility and professionalism to celebrity photo-ops.

It's fucking disgusting, and my MP and the Minister of Defence will be hearing from me (yet again) on the subject.

I know some former US soldiers who served in Afghanistan and met and worked with Canadian units there. They've said that the Canadians were so professional and careful and respectful, that it put the US "cowboys" to shame.

I'm sure many Canadian veterans are completely creeped out by this display.

It's that kind of frat behaviour that really helps people to see how out of touch our politicians and clowns are.

Cherry and McKay's burlesque of military discipline is also an insult to the memories of all the soldiers who have given their lives in pursuit of goals that cannot be achieved, despite what they have been told by their political and military masters.

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